Structural Modification and Bioavailability of Starch Components As Related to the Extent of Maillard Reaction: An Enzymatic Degradation and a Solid-State (13)C CPMAS NMR Study.

Starch and starch components, amylose and amylopectin, from potato, have been studied in order to understand the modifications, induced by different levels of the Maillard reaction occurring in the presence of amino acids (L-lysine in this study), in the macromolecular structure and digestibility. Structural characterization was performed by (13)C CPMAS NMR, and differences in the bioavailability of these polymers were studied by enzymatic degradation kinetics. Results obtained reveal that changes are induced by the Maillard reaction, whose occurrence has been verified and measured by the furosine (epsilon-N-2-furoylmethyl-L-lysine) evaluation, on the macromolecular structure of starchy materials and on their enzymatic susceptibility. Lysine seems to act as a disordering agent; a loss of crystallinity is evident for starch and amylopectin and, in particular, for amylose. Finally, within the same sample, as the lysine concentration increases, the polymer digestibility decreases, confirming that structural organization is not the only determinant of starch digestibility.